Dehydration

Approximately 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. Signs of dehydration can range from hunger to fatigue to back pain to memory issues to symptoms of disease.

Health Impacts of Dehydration

• §  In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger.
• Even mild dehydration can slow down metabolism as much as 3%.
• The biggest trigger of daytime fatigue is lack of water.
• Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers.
•  A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
• Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%, breast cancer by 79%, and develop bladder cancer by 50%.
• Increased impact on the liver and kidneys. One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into energy. The kidneys are responsible for filtering toxins, wastes, ingested water, and salts out of the bloodstream. When dehydrated, the kidneys cannot function properly, and the liver must work overtime to compensate. As a result, it metabolizes less fat. 

Quantity

Consume one half of your body weight in ounces per day for optimal hydration. If you are exercising vigorously and/or consuming diuretic drinks (coffee, soda, drinks with caffeine) that amount will need to increase to compensate.

Quality

The quality of water is also a crucial part of hydration and health. Ensuring that it is not contaminated with a lot of chemicals such as nitrates, mercury, fluoride, PCBs, Lead, Arsenic, DDT, Chlorine, etc is also another area of recommendation. Public water supplies can include toxic chemicals; therefore, additional purification is highly beneficial. A few options:

Water Filtration System – there are many different types of water filtration systems at many price points that will remove out certain particles from tap water at varying levels. It is beneficial to research how the filtration system works and the number of filters that the water goes through the purification process.

Reverse Osmosis – this type of filtration removes all good and bad components. If you consume RO water, it is recommended to add back the beneficial minerals that your body needs.